Some Live, Some Die, In The Way of The Samurai
by Alienz8mypopcorn
Summary: It's been 2 years since Mugen, Jin, and Fuu have found Seizo Kasumi, a.k.a. The Sunflower Samurai and have gone their seperate ways. Now, someone is apparently after any affiliated people of the Sunflower Samurai...will they escape?
1. A Grisly Reunion

A young, tanned, thin, man with wild brown hair, donning gray shorts and a red over-shirt, flopped down onto the futon of a brothel in Hiroshima. A beautiful young woman with long, waist-length, shiny, thick brown hair lay in his arms. Her pale cheeks took on a light flush as she leaned up to kiss him, her arms twisting around his neck. Both of their breathing matched a hunger-filled, unsteady tempo. Neither cared a difference about the time of day or where they were, or the type of person each other was. As far as they were concerned, he was a "paying" customer, and her a service. Just as their lips met, the door to the private room that they happened to be staying in flung open, with a loud crash. The young man sat up, sweat matting his hair to his forehead,

"The hell?" He swore violently, standing up to grab his sword. The silhouette in the doorway stepped forward, a young, flat-chested, brunette girl, fully clothed in a pink kimono. She put a geta sandaled foot ahead of the other and stepped into the sunlight,

"MUGEN! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? IT FIGURES THAT I'D FIND YOU IN A PLACE LIKE THIS!" She said angrily, her eyebrow twitching. Mugen looked taken aback, and then a rather agitated look crossed his face,

"DAMN IT FUU! WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU BARGE IN ON SOMEONE IN A PLACE LIKE THIS, HUH? HOW THE HELL DID YOU KNOW WHERE I WAS?" He demanded, gripping his sword out of frustration, so hard that his knuckles turned white. Fuu, turned away from him,

"Mugen….all you have to do is add cheap Sake and cheap whores to the mix, and anyone will know where to find you…" She said with a roll of her eyes. The young woman who had been in the room with him before, pulled her clothes back on, and moved towards the door. Mugen shook his head,

"No baby, don't go….please….we ain't finished yet!" He said, watching her leave. She merely looked over her shoulder and offered him a tempted smile, before sighing and leaving the room totally. Mugen gritted his teeth,

"This damn well better be good, Fuu. I helped you find your damn Samurai…so why don't you leave me the hell alone, and go find some fun…" He snarled. Fuu shrugged and pranced over to the futon that Mugen and the young whore had just been occupying. She put her hands behind her head, relaxing in the futon. Mugen walked over,

"Well?" He asked, his voice holding little more than contempt for Fuu at the moment. Fuu looked up at him,

"I need your help again…I need you to accompany me on a journey…will you do that for me Mugen? It's important…" She said. Mugen raised an eyebrow,

"Is that all you hunted me down for you little bitch? 2 years ago you con me into helping you find your smelly samurai father guy, and now you show up here wanting me to go with you again? The hell with you, go find Jin…" He said, reaching for his sword. Fuu grabbed his wrist suddenly,

"I can't go and look for Jin….that's why I need your help…" She said softly. Mugen wrenched his hand away,

"Why the hell not…the man can wield a sword, can't he?" He asked. Fuu nodded, but then sat up and hugged her knees to her chest,

"Someone beat you to it, Mugen…" She said softly. Mugen turned around,

"What the hell are you talking about now?" He asked. Fuu turned away for a moment, sucking in a breath, as though she had devastating news,

"Someone beat you to killing Jin…" She murmured. Mugen raised his left eyebrow,

"Eh? Yeah right…no one could beat that bastard…I don't believe a word of what your saying…" He said, turning away as if to prove his indifference. Fuu grumbled and slid off of the futon, thrusting a piece of parchment into his hands,

"Read this." She commanded. Mugen was more than happy to. After all, it had only been recently he had learned how to read, and now, reading anything filled him with joy. In fact, he hungered daily to have an excuse to read anything he came across. He sat down on the futon, clearing his throat, and reading aloud,

"It is my great pleasure to announce the defeat of the current Sensei of the Mariya Enshirou Memorial Martial Arts School in Nagasaki, Japan. The master, Jin, aged 22, was slain, and the dojo has been burned to the ground. All who once knew Jin, come quickly to mourn over his ashy remains, for soon they will be swept away as I build my new, and better dojo. Signed, Anonymous…" He looked up,

"Yeah right…you expect me to believe this bullshit? Where the hell did you get this anyhow?" He asked. Fuu crossed her arms over her chest,

"It was nailed on the doors of the Edo Castle. I was there, looking for that woman who Jin helped escape from the brothel. I wanted to know if she knew of his whereabouts….I didn't even have a chance to find her…" She said with a sigh. Mugen shrugged,

"So he's dead…we all gotta go sometime…" He said. Fuu looked up at him,

"Mugen, you jerk! I can't believe how insensitive you are!" She snarled, and ripped the bulletin back from him. She wiped angry tears from her eyes, and stormed from the room, her feet causing dull thunks to ring on the wooden boards of the brothel. The woman who Mugen had been with previously, heard the commotion and poked her head back into the door,

"Do you still require my services, sir?" She asked. Mugen grinned and nodded, waving her foreward with his hand,

"You bet your pretty little ass I do. C'mere." He said, and she slid the door of the room shut, moving back into her place in Mugen's arms.


	2. Someone's Stalking Us

Fuu sat in the small bar located just outside of the brothel. She had the bulletin spread out in front of her, with a glass filled with Sake in her hands. She shook her head as she took a swig,

"Damn asshole, Mugen….I swear…he's so inconsiderate…poor Jin, he died all alone." She said with a grimace, glancing down at her papers. She rolled her eyes and sighed,

"I guess I just don't want it to be true….Poor Jin…" She said softly. The bartender turned, and hearing all of this, took the Sake glass out of Fuu's hands,

"When customers start talking to themselves, it kinda freaks me out, and I know they've had enough…You've DEFINITELY had enough girlie..." He said. Fuu balled her hands into fists, and then slammed one down on the counter,

"I'm MOURNING you asshole! Give me back the liquor!" She swore vehemently. At that moment, the door flaps lifted, and Mugen stepped into the bar. Fuu turned and rolled her eyes,

"Ah…the King has entered the building…" She snarled, ripping the bulletin up, and shoving it into her small pink purse. Turning her nose up, she moved towards the door, but Mugen caught her little arm. She looked up, eyebrows furrowing,

"Let me go, jerk…" She muttered under her breath. Mugen grinned,

"Don't sass me. Besides, a good bodyguard doesn't let the person he's protecting go out alone." He said. Fuu stopped struggling to get away, and then stood, looking up at him,

"Had a change of heart huh? Well guess what? YOU ALREADY BROKE YOUR OWN RULE!" She said, and yanked herself away, heading out of the bar. Mugen raised an eyebrow,

"Now you wait just a damn minute! Get your little ass back here!" He shouted, giving chase. Fuu rolled her eyes,

"The hell with him! I don't need his help anyhow!" She said, turning her nose up into the air. Mugen neared Fuu, and just as he reached her, he stiffened, feeling the air around the two of them tense, and listening to the whistling of bullets heading towards their backs. Mugen leapt, and knocked Fuu to the ground landing on top of her. Fuu tasted dirt, and gasped when Mugen fell on her, almost knocking the wind from her lungs. She rolled out from beneath him,

"What the hell is your problem Mugen?" She asked angrily, sitting up and dusting off her pink kimono. Mugen shook his head, and put a finger to his lips. Then he pointed forward where a crowd gathered. Many young woman were holding their children closer to their sides and many young men were holding their woman closer than that. They gazed upon the ghastly scene before them. A young couple, lay on the ground, both bleeding from bullet wounds in their backs. Fuu could not see anything, but she could hear snatches of conversation,

"My goodness! Do you think their dead?" "They were hit with the bullets from behind…" Fuu paled and looked over at Mugen, trembling gently. That could have been her and Mugen. She only hoped the people who had been hit weren't dead. Mugen grinned, and sat up,

"Still think you don't need me?" He asked with a smug smile. Fuu didn't answer. She just climbed to her feet, and raced into the circle. Much to her relief, the young man was stirring, as well as the woman. They both looked like they were in pain and very pale. Another man, a little older this time, pushed his way through the circle and bent down to examine them, claiming he was a doctor. Fuu pushed her own way back through the crowd until she ran into Mugen's chest. Mugen grabbed her wrist, and without a word, pulled her towards a little inn located on the outskirts of the city.


	3. Tension Rising

Inside the barroom of The Drunken Dragon Inn sat Fuu, who was looking at Mugen with an uncomfortable expression. However, he didn't look to happy at the moment either. She tapped her fingertips on the wooden table gently,

"Y-You don't think…someone's after us…do you?" She asked, trying to break the icy, silent, tension that hung vividly between them. Mugen leaned back in his chair and examined his sword,

"I don't know…I don't care…but one thing that really pisses me off is someone who can't come out and confront me like a man…" He snarled, ramming his sword back into it's sheath. Fuu rolled her eyes,

"Two innocent people are injured, and all you can think about, is how someone threw you a low-blow from the back. How typical of you, Mugen…" She sighed. Mugen shook his head,

"Give me the paper with Jin's death on it." He said. Fuu reached into her sleeve, and, after fishing around for a moment, spread it out on the table in front of him. He glanced over it, and then sighed,

"It IS anonymous…I was hoping my memory had been off…" He said, rolling it up,and handing it back to her. Fuu put a hand to her forehead in exasperation,

"Well….I could have told you that…" She said. Mugen shrugged,

"I didn't think about asking…Listen….we're hitting the road tonight….maybe if we're lucky, the ass will attack us again, but this time he'll grow enough balls to show his face…" He said. Fuu looked up at him,

"Mugen…what made you change your mind?" She asked softly. Mugen leaned in close, beside her cheeks, letting his breath wash down her cheek, sending goosebumps on her arms, and shivers up her spine. His lips brushed against her ear,

"If I thought that was any of your business, I'd tell you…" He said, and then leaned back, chuckling. Fuu's eyebrow twitched, and she balled her hands into fists,

"You JERK!" She exclaimed angrily. Mugen shrugged and stood, stretching,

"Come on…we're going now." He said. Fuu looked around,

"N-now? Mugen! We can't just leave!" She said. Mugen shrugged,

"Why the hell not? You got somethin' else you wanna do here?" He asked. Fuu folded her ams across her chest,

"No…let's go I suppose….The journey should be much shorter this time, granted the fact that we know the way this time…" She said. Mugen shrugged,

"I dunno…half the time that was wasted, was getting YOU out of scrapes." He said. Fuu slapped him as she stood up beside him,

"If I recall correctly, ALL of those scrapes I got into, we're yours, and Jin's fault." She said, and moved out the door. Mugen put a hand to his cheek tenderly,

"Bitch…" He whispered, but followed after her. The two of them, casting death glares at each other from across a 6 foot space that was between them, moved towards the edge of the city in this way, into the setting sun that lay on the horizon before them. They walked this way for about an hour, moving into the low underbrush of the forest, the sun finally disappearing and the sky turning pitch, before either of them said a word. Fuu glanced over to her left, where she could barely make out the silhouette of Mugen,

"Should we make camp now?" She asked. Mugen scratched his nose and shrugged,

"I guess so. Let's head off of the path a little ways and find a clearing." He said. Fuu nodded, and followed him, a little closer this time. It wasn't too long before they came upon a small clearing in the forest, with a stream running directly through the center of it. Mugen tossed some dry leaves and twigs into a pile, and Fuu bent down with a tinder box, getting it to light after a few attempts. Mugen flopped down beside it, and closed his eyes, just as he was. Fuu stood up and put her hands on her hips,

"How barbaric…" She said, and then proceeded to making herself a bed of dry leaves. When she was complete, she curled up, and also fell asleep. The pair continued this way, for a total of four days, before one night, their routine was interrupted drastically by an unexpected visitor.


	4. Heathen? What the hell are you on?

Mugen and Fuu sat beside the fire, allowing their fish to crisp gently. Fuu hugged herself as she gazed around the forest about them. Mugen raised an eyebrow,

"You scared or somethin'? I dunno why. We used to spend the night in forests all of the time when we were lookin' for your samurai dude." He said, leaning back on his elbows. Fuu looked over at him,

"Yeah, but that was when we had Jin with us." She said softly. Mugen sat straight up,

"You little bitch! What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He asked. Fuu rolled her eyes,

"It doesn't frighten you even a little, that someone, was good enough to kill Jin?" She asked slowly, as if trying to explain her remark to a younger child who may not understand. Mugen shrugged,

"Jin probably got careless…I mean, who could he have had to fight in the past two years?" He asked. Fuu shook her head,

"Anyone who went to his previous dojo? I mean, he didn't exactly hide his whereabouts naming it Enshiro Mariya Memorial…now did he?" She asked. Mugen snapped,

"Aha! See? Carelessness, just like I toldja." He said. Fuu rubbed her shoulders gently, as if to dissipate the goose-bumps that were rising there,

"Somehow, Jin doesn't strike me as the type to grow 'careless'…" She whispered to herself. Mugen reached over the flames to pick up his fish, when suddenly the rustling of the bushes to the left caught his attention. He narrowed his eyes, and cast a look over at Fuu. She was reaching for her fish as well, and apparently, hadn't heard it. No use startling the little wuss. He pushed the stake to his lips, and began to eat, quite nonchalantly, cleaning the fish clean off of the wood. Fuu was enjoying her own fish fry, when Mugen suddenly sat up, and flung his stake behind him with a tremendous force. Fuu glared at him,

"Mugen! We could burn that! There's no point in trashing the-" She began, but stopped as a low "Oof," and a squelching sound was heard from the bushes where he had flung them. Mugen stood up, facing the bushes, a maniacal grin on his face, his hand reaching over his shoulder for his sword. A young man, with dark hair, and wildly ferocious grey eyes, darted from behind the tree,

"Heathen! Today you shall meet God, and beg for his forgiveness!" He snarled, coming at Mugen at full speed. Fuu stood up, the man had no blood coming from any wound that she could see, and he was dressed in all-white, the traditional garb of holy men. She moved to the bushes were he had come from, only to find an obvious partner impaled on the stake, and stuck to the tree. She fell back, her hand over her mouth to keep from vomiting the fish she had just consumed. She hit her knees, and glanced over to the fight. The man had taken up a style, in front of Mugen, breathing violently out of anger. Mugen look calm, and cool, that crazed grin still painting his face, as he looked down at the young man,

"I stopped believing in all things holy a long time ago, seeing as the only place I've ever known is Hell." He said, and with those words, dashed in towards the man, his sword raised. The cleric however, noted Mugen's movements, and stepped casually out of the way. Mugen skidded to a halt and turned around, only to have to jump back out of the way of a countering sword strike. The young man let a smug smile reach his face,

"You're covered with so much blood, I could smell your movements a mile away." He said. Mugen raised an eyebrow,

"Say what? What the hell are you, some kinda dog?" He asked. The man examined his blade, seemingly unperturbed,

"On the contrary…Such an ardent worshipper of God as I am was gifted with the power to sense all of God's enemies…and I easily sensed you…" He said. Fuu shook her head, who was this guy? And what did he want with them? Mugen gripped his own sword handle until his knuckles were a deathly pearly white. He gritted his teeth,

"Stop your yammering, and fight, bastard!" He said, and came at the man full force once more. The man never allowed his grin to slip from his face. He didn't throw up his sword in defense as Mugen was used to, but rather, stuck out his foot, and successfully sent Mugen flying through the dirt on his face. Mugen pushed himself up onto his elbows, and spit out the dirt,

"Damn…" He snarled, and flipped over, only to find the young man standing over him, with his blade at Mugen's throat. Fuu chewed on her fingernails roughly, afraid to do anything that would get Mugen killed. If she didn't do something soon however, he was going to die anyhow. She reached over for her pink lacquered knife, and stood, when suddenly a wet sound pierced the night air. Mugen was drenched with blood, and the man fell down into a heap, and sword wound right through his chest from the back. Mugen wiped the blood from his eyes,

"What the hell?" He asked. Another young man, with black hair tied back into a ponytail, donning an airy blue outfit, and wearing black glasses stepped into the firelight. Fuu dropped her knife,

"Jin! Your alive?"


	5. Don't Make a Damn Bit of Sense

Jin folded his arms over his chest as he took a seat by the fire, plucking one of the staked fish from the fireside. Mugen stood up, and moved to the fire, standing right beside Jin, glaring down at him. Fuu stood up, and followed suit to Mugen. Jin glanced up, chewing slowly the bit of fish in his mouth, looking from one angered face to the other. Finally he swallowed,

"Can I help either of you?" He asked. Fuu hit her knees beside him,

"J-Jin! We thought you were dead!" She said softly. Mugen nodded,

"Yeah! How the hell are you just going to waltz in here, take over MY battle, and then not say a word about where've you been…" He snarled. Jin shrugged,

"I didn't realize I had to check in with you two…" He said. Fuu reached into her sleeve and pulled out the crumpled paper,

"Look at what we found Jin!" She said softly. Jin took the paper from her, and looked over it in the firelight. His eyebrows furrowed,

"I've seen something like this before…Mugen…check that religious fiend over there…" He said softly. Mugen rolled his eyes,

"I didn't realize I had to take orders from you." He said, letting a smug smile cross his face. Fuu sighed and stood up,

"For goodness sake guys…you two didn't change at all…" She said. She knelt beside the dead Christian, and sifted through his pockets. Finally she produced a crumpled piece of paper, and moved back beside the firelight, seated next to Jin. She smoothed out the paper,

"Three heretics…Fuu, Jin, and Mugen, are responsible for the death of the Christian Revolution leader Seizo Kasumi. Listed below are there descriptions, should you like to avenge your leader, and extract the wrath of an angry God upon them…" She read. She furrowed her eyebrows,

"Murder of Seizo Kasumi? That's insane! He was my father!" She said, crumpling the paper in her fist angrily. Jin placed a hand on her shoulder,

"When Yusuke Yukete burned my dojo to the ground, I also found a similar message. But it said that I was out to murder all of the Dojo Sensei's, the way I murdered my own. I'm supposing that a higher up organization is feeding the information, and provoking these attacks on us…" He said softly. Mugen raised an eyebrow,

"Then why was it posted that he killed you?" He asked. Jin shrugged,

"I was asleep in the Dojo at the time…he probably figured that I didn't make it out in enough time to live….the message I found was on the ground, half-charred. He must have thrown in into the flames in an attempt to burn the evidence." He said softly. Fuu furrowed her eyebrows,

"Who would be after us? As far as I know…we didn't do anything that drastically wrong…" She said thoughtfully. Mugen looked over at her,

"Don't you remember when we finally reached Ikitsuki Island, and those men were there waiting for us?" He asked. Fuu rolled her eyes,

"Yeah, but that's because you put one in a wheelchair, and ruined the lives of the other two. They had vendettas against you." She said obviously. Jin nodded,

"Fuu did stage a good question…who would be after us…and why?" He said thoughtfully, staring into the firelight.


End file.
